Poly(lactic acid)s (PLA)s are considered useful for medical, agricultural and packaging applications due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. In view of this, it is desirable to provide new stereospecific forms of poly(lactic acid)s and new methods of preparing known forms of poly(lactic acid)s.
A convenient synthetic route to PLAs is the ring-opening polymerization of lactide, the cyclic diester of lactic acid. A range of metal alkoxide initiators have been reported to polymerize lactide with retention of configuration. For example, these initiators have been reported to polymerize optically active (R,R)-lactide or (S,S)-lactide to produce isotactic poly(lactic acid). Moreover, these initiators have been reported to polymerize rac-lactide to produce amorphous, atactic polymers. Polymerization of rac-lactide to produce heterotactic poly(lactic acid) or any other method of producing this PLA has not heretofore been known.